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In January 2010, our Patron kindly gave us the following text to study.

THIRTY-SEVEN PRACTICES OF BODHISATTVASBy Gyalsey Thokmay Sangpo

Published by the Library of Tibetan Works & Archives, 2009

Namo Lokeshvaraya !

You see that all phenomena neither come nor go.Still you strive solely for the benefit of beings.Supreme Guru and Protector Chenrezig,To you I continually bow with body, speech and mind.

The perfect Buddhas, the source of benefit and happiness,Arise from practicing the genuine Dharma,Which in turn depends on knowing how to practice.So here I’ll explain the Bodhisattva practices.

1Now that you have obtained this precious human body, the great boat so difficult to find,In order to free yourself and others from the ocean of samsara,Listening, reflecting and meditating with diligence day and nightIs the practice of a Bodhisattva.

2Passion towards friends churns like water;Hatred towards enemies burns like fire;Through the darkness of ignorance one forgets what to adopt and what to reject.To abandon one’s homeland is the practice of a Bodhisattva.

4Friends and relatives acquainted for long will separate.Possessions gained with exertion will be left behind.Consciousness, the guest, will leave the guesthouse of the body.To let go of this life is the practice of a Bodhisattva.

5When friendship with someone causes the three poisons to increase,Degrades the activities of listening, reflecting and meditating,And destroys loving kindness and compassion,To give up such a friendship is the practice of a Bodhisattva.

6When in reliance on someone your negativities diminish,And your positive qualities grow like a waxing moon,To cherish such a spiritual friend more than your own bodyIs the practice of a Bodhisattva.

7Themselves captive in the prison of samsara,Whom can the worldly gods protect?Therefore the seek refuge in the Three Jewels, who do not betray youIs the practice of a Bodhisattva.

8The suffering of the lower realms, so difficult to bear,Is what the Buddhas taught to be the fruit of negative actions.Therefore, even at the cost of your life,Never to commit negative actions is the practice of a Bodhisattva.

9Happiness in the three realms, like dew on a blade of grass,Is subject to instantaneous fading away.To strive for the supreme state of liberationThat never wavers is the practice of a Bodhisattva.

10From the beginningless time your mothers have cherished you.If they now suffer, what good is your own happiness?Therefore, in order to liberate limitless numbers of sentient beingsCultivating Bodhicitta is the practice of a Bodhisattva.

11All suffering comes from yearning for your own happiness.The perfect Buddhas are born from the intention to benefit others.Therefore, to truly exchange your own happinessFor the suffering of others is the practice of a Bodhisattva.

12Even if someone driven by excessive desire steals all your wealthOr incites someone else to steal it,To dedicate to this person your body, possessions and all your virtueOf the three times is the practice of a Bodhisattva.

13If someone cuts off your headEven when you have not done the slightest wrong,Through the power of compassionTo take his misdeeds upon yourself is the practice of a Bodhisattva.

14Should someone slander youIn a billion worlds,With a loving heart, to proclaim his good qualities in returnIs the practice of a Bodhisattva.

15If in the middle of a crowd of peopleSomeone reveals your hidden faults and abuses you for them,To see him as a spiritual friend and to bow with respectIs the practice of a Bodhisattva.

16If someone whom you cherish as dearly as your own childTakes you for an enemy,Then, like a mother whose child is sick,To love that person even more is the practice of a Bodhisattva.

17Even if someone who is your equal or inferior,Driven by arrogance seeks to disparage you,To place him on the crown of your head with the same respect you would accord your guruIs the practice of a Bodhisattva.

18Though gripped by poverty and always scorned,Though stricken by acute illness and possessed by evil spirits,To take upon yourself the suffering and negativities of every beingAnd never get discouraged is the practice of a Bodhisattva.

19Though famous and prominent, someone to whom others bow,Though you amass the riches like that of the god of wealth,To see that worldly splendour has no essenceAnd thus to be without arrogance is the practice of a Bodhisattva.

20If you have not pacified the enemy of your own anger,Combating outer opponents will only make them multiply,Therefore, with an army of loving kindness and compassion,To tame your own mind is the practice of a Bodhisattva.

21Sensual pleasures are like salt water;The more you partake of them, the more your craving will increase.Therefore, when something arouses attachment,To abandon it immediately is the practice of a Bodhisattva.

22All appearances are your own mind,And mind itself primordially transcends all mental fabrications.Knowing this, and to remain free from apprehending the signs of subject and objectIs the practice of a Bodhisattva.

23When you encounter objects that please your mind,Like rainbows in the summer season,Though they seem beautiful, not to view them as real and to give up attachment to themIs the practice of a Bodhisattva.

24All suffering is like the death of your child in a dream.To take such delusive appearances as true, how exhausting!Therefore, whenever you encounter unpleasant circumstances,To see them as deceptions is the practice of a Bodhisattva.

25If those who aspire to enlightenment willingly give up their bodies,What need is there to mention external objects?Therefore, with no hope of reward or benefit,To give with generosity is the practice of a Bodhisattva.

26If lack of discipline prevents you from benefiting yourself,Then your wish to benefit others is just a joke.Therefore, to observe discipline with no longing for worldly existenceIs the practice of a Bodhisattva.

27For a Bodhisattva who seeks a wealth of virtue,Every harm perpetrator is like a precious treasure.Therefore, without feeling irritation to all,To cultivate patience is the practice of a Bodhisattva.

28If Shravakas and Pratyekabuddhas, who strive for their benefit alone,Expand effort as if to extinguish a fire burning on their heads,To cultivate joyous effort, the wellspring of positive qualities,Is the practice of a Bodhisattva.

29Vipasana perfectly endowed with ShamathaCompletely conquers all afflictions.Knowing this, and to cultivate meditative concentration that transcends the four formless statesIs the practice of a Bodhisattva.

30The practices of the first five perfectionsBut without wisdom cannot achieve perfect enlightenment.Equipped with skilful means and cultivating the wisdom of non-conceptualising the three spheresIs the practice of a Bodhisattva.

31If you do not analyse your own faultsYou might put on a Dharmic façade while behaving in a non-Dharmic way.Therefore, to continually analyse your faults and then discard themIs the practice of a Bodhisattva.

32If compelled by your own afflictions you speak of the faults of other BodhisattvasYou yourself will degenerate.Therefore, never citing the faults of those who have entered the Mahayana pathIs the practice of a Bodhisattva.

33Desire for gain and services leads to mutual arguments,And activities of listening, reflecting and meditating decline.To relinquish attachment to the households of friends, relatives and donorsIs the practice of a Bodhisattva.

34Harsh words disturb the minds of othersAnd disintegrate a Bodhisattva’s conduct.Therefore, to give up harsh and unpleasant speech towards othersIs the practice of a Bodhisattva.

35Once you become accustomed to afflictions, they are hard to undermine with antidotes.Therefore, with the remedial weapons of mindfulness and introspection,To forcefully eliminate afflictions such as attachment, the moment they arise,Is the practice of a Bodhisattva.

36In brief, wherever you are and whatever you do,Always examine the state of your mind.Continuously working for the welfare of othersIs the practice of a Bodhisattva.

37To dedicate the merit thus accumulated through these efforts to enlightenmentWith the wisdom free of concepts of the three spheres,In order to eliminate the suffering of all infinite beingsIs the practice of a Bodhisattva.

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By relying on the words of genuine masters,I explain the meaning taught in the sutras, tantras and (other) treatises,In the form of these thirty-seven Bodhisattva practicesTo benefit those who wish to train on the Bodhisattva’s path.

Because my intelligence is small and my studies few,I lack linguistic skills to please the scholars.Yet, since they are based on sutras and the teachings of the genuine masters,I believe these practices of a Bodhisattva are flawless.

Nevertheless, since the vastness of a Bodhisattva’s conduct is difficult to fathomBy someone like me with an inferior intellect,I pray to the genuine masters to consider with patienceAll my flaws such as contradictions, incoherence and so on.

By the virtue of the merit gathered here,And by the power of conventional and ultimate Bodhicitta,May all beings become like the benefactor AvalokiteshvaraWho dwells neither in the extreme of samsara nor in that of peace.

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Translated by Geshe Dorje Damdul, Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, Dharamsala, HP, India.2009.Published by Library of Tibetan Works and ArchivesPrinted by Archana Press, Delhi.